WoxI MEDIA SMARTPad

WoxI MEDIA SMARTPad

It’s that time of the year when the dream of ditching the idiot box with one of its smarter brethren starts going up in smoke. You could salvage that dream with the Woxi Media smartPod because it can be used with CRT TVs that have a composite video-input connection. The necessary A/V cables are provided and the built-in Wi-Fi and Ethernet port convert the telly into a web-connected one. 

The smartPod is based on Android 2.3.6 (Gingerbread) with a customised UI powered by an ARM Cortex A9 chip. It allows one to create up to eight user accounts – all password protected – so that every family member signs in to their own set of apps and preferences. The initial set up at this stage is a bit annoying, even with the wireless QWERTY keyboard. Those without patience can opt for the guest login. The good thing though about the multi-user login is that the browser history is separate.  

HdMI and an sd/MMC slot for additional storage are included. The latter is essential because of the meagre 4GB internal mem. The wireless keyboard hogs one of the two UsB ports on the media player, which is a downer. The keyboard is useful but the buttons offer a spongy response and the wand-like mouse action is not good enough. Apart from these issues, this player does offer good media support, including high-def vids. If only it were priced a little lower. 

LOVE Multiple user accounts. Feature-packed 
HATE Pricey. Keyboard’s soft button response 
NTN SAYS A useful piece of kit, given that it supports tvs that don’t have hdMi

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